I, Bernie Harberts, did not use generative AI to write or illustrate this article. Spell check and grammar check, yes. AI, no.
Happy Sunday morning. I recently hooked my mule Polly to the wagon I borrowed from my good buddy Ronald Hudson.
Mule Polly hitched to Ronald’s wagon. The wagon cover is a heavy canvas tarp. I’ll be doing some sewing on it shortly to make it fit better. Also, the wagon shafts will need replacing (more on that shortly).
I bought Polly from Ronald about 15 years ago and she’s still going amazingly strong. In addition to pulling my wagon from Canada to Mexico, and a cart across Newfoundland, she appeared in the Emmy Award-winning “Mule Rider” episode which aired on PBS North Carolina’s.
The old set of shafts off the wagon. I took them apart and re-used the hardware on the new set of shafts I’m building for the wagon.The metal framework for the shafts. I can tell they’re really old because they’re forge welded. Forge welding is where you heat a piece of metal to glowing and then hammer it back onto itself to make loops, attachment points, etc.Building a new set of shafts for the wagon. This is one of the last pieces of white oak that my dad sawed on his sawmill. Here, I’m laying out the two pieces of wood that will become the new wagon shafts.
Click on the video below for a quick explanation of how I’m cutting out the wagon shafts.
The wagon shafts rough-fitted to the wagon. This is the same piece of wood you saw me marking earlier to cut to shape.Polly harnessed and ready to goHitched and ready to go. That’s our border collie Lucky sitting next to me. In this photo, I have Polly hitched to my forecart, a small two-wheeled cart I use for getting her in shape.How Polly is spending the rest of her Sunday – grazing in our back yardAnd now it’s time to go back to signing pre-ordered copies of my new book Two Mules to Triumph. The first batch has shipped out and the rest will ship this week.
Buy a Copy of Two Mules to Triumph
The pre-order special has ended but I’d be happy to get a copy of Two Mules to Triumph into your hands. Here’s more about Two Mules to Triumph and how to buy a copy.
Two Mules to Triumph is about my (Bernie Harberts’) 2,300-mile saddle voyage from North Carolina to Idaho with my mules Brick and Cracker. 306 pages
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